BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The road to Superbowl LVII could take a detour through Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The alternate site will host the AFC Championship game only if it is the Buffalo Bills against the Kansas City Chiefs.
While both games still need to win their way into the game, some members of Bills Mafia are so confident in their team, they have already bought their plane tickets and booked their hotel room.
"Have faith. Have hope, and I know it's gonna happen," Shauna Jones, a Bills Mafia member, said.
Bills Mafia is ready not only for Sunday's game but also for the possible AFC Championship game against the Chiefs in Atlanta.
"The culture, the fans, the fan base, the food, the brotherly love, everything that you can have, the Bills have and were just so blessed to have it," Jones said.
Jones said the second she heard chatter about Atlanta as a possible location, she did not think twice about making arrangements.
"I just went ahead and booked a room. I said you might as well get it before they go ahead and sell out. Went ahead and took the time off work. Got the kids set up where they're gonna go and went ahead and planned it. Worse comes to worst you just cancel," Jones explained.
Shauna Gartner also went ahead and booked a trip to watch the Bills with her husband, dad, and older brother.
"As soon as we saw Atlanta, I jumped on I was like, 'y'all we need to book a hotel. Let's go ahead and get it,'" Gartner said.
As soon as the announcement went out, it was a rush to get hotel rooms.
"As we were looking I mean they were flying off Expedia like this is booked, this is booked Omni hotel is a significant one in Atlanta — it's booked up," Gartner said.
Jones also said, "There was a ton of hotels at that time — decent prices right next to the stadium that day they made the announcement. I went on about two hours later and they were already mostly sold out so I was like glad I could jump the gun."
With the mad dash to lock in travel plans, the Buffalo Niagara International Airport crew is ready for the wave of Bills Mafia members to come through.
"Well there will definitely be a rush because we know as Buffalonians we get very excited and we do not play when it comes to that," Kelly Khatib, NFTA communications manager, said.
Khatib said she already heard from one of the major airlines.
"And they say they're definitely seeing an uptick in sales already in Atlanta," she added.
According to the president of A&B Travel, Larry Chirico, flights to Atlanta are booking up very fast on Delta Airlines, which is the only airline that offers non-stop flights. Chirico said Delta flights will cost you about $900 for a round-trip ticket as of Friday morning. He said prices will continue to increase as time goes on.
He explained that most airlines will only offer a credit if you have to cancel and that hotels in the downtown area will be expensive. Chirico said whenever there is a major event, airfare, hotel, and car rental prices will increase due to the demand.
Still, with one, maybe two big games to go, there is no such thing as getting ahead of yourself when it comes to Bills Mafia.
"Go bills and let's do it! We gotta do it for 3," Gartner said.
